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is the body, suspended by metal bands e, from two cross-heads f, connected by rods g, with a square balance beam h, hinged to the axletree of the waggon. From this beam a lever i, projects, having a rope attached to its end, which passes under the pulley j, to the windlass k, mounted on bearings in the pole l, which extends horizontally forward from the axletree, and carries the shafts of the waggon. m, is a link or staple, which is slipped over the end of the lever i, for the purpose of retaining the body of the waggon in its raised position.

To lower the body of the waggon, the end of the lever i, is released from the link m, when the weight of the body will cause it to descend, elevating the end of the lever i; the descent of the body being regulated by means of the windlass k. The body is raised again by winding up the rope until the lever i, returns to the position shewn in the drawing.

The patentee claims, firstly, a passenger carriage, constructed on the principles hereinbefore stated, and shewn in fig. 1, in which the main body part of the carriage is connected with the wheels, and the wheels with each other, by spindles, instead of by an axle.

Secondly. The form of passenger carriage, constructed on the principles aforesaid, and represented in fig. 1, in which wheels of the ordinary form are dispensed with, and instead thereof, rings or zones, with friction rollers, or other equivalent rotary agents working therein, are used; which rings or zones girdle or circumscribe the body of the carriage, at points removed more or less inwards from the outer sides of the said body.

Thirdly. The form of waggon, constructed on the principles aforesaid, and shewn in fig. 3, where the part appropriated to the load, or main body part, is suspended below the centre of bearing, and in such manner, that the same can be conveniently detached from the wheels when loaded, or attached when unloaded.—[Inrolled in the Inrolment Office, June, 1835.]

Scientific Adjudication.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.

BEFORE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE DENMAN.

June 25, 1842.

BERRY v. CLAUDET.

This was an action brought by Mr. Beard, proprietor of the Daguerreotype patent, in the name of Berry, (the original patentee, from whom the patent right had been purchased,) against Mr. Claudet, to compel him to give up a license he had obtained to use this invention. Previous to the assign

* For specification of this patent see Vol. XVI, p. 1, of our present series. VOL. XXI.

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ment of this patent to Mr. Beard, it appears that a license had been granted to Mr. Claudet, by Messrs. Newton and Berry, agents to Messrs. Daguerre and Niepce, the inventors, empowering him to use a certain number of machines for taking Daguerreotype pictures, and dispose of the same,—consequently the patent right could only be purchased by Mr. Beard, subject to the existing license. There was, however, a clause in the said license, empowering Mr. Claudet to relinquish such license, and to recover the purchasemoney, in the event of the patent being sold.

The reason for introducing this clause was, that it having being considered probable, from the importance of the invention and its extensive usefulness, as an auxiliary to the fine arts, that either the English Government, the Royal Society, or some other public body, might purchase the patent right, for the purpose of throwing it open to the public,-Mr. Claudet's license would then have become useless.

This case was argued on the 7th of June last; it came before the Court,* on a demurrer to the declaration. One of the points argued, and the only one on which the judgment proceeded, was the construction of the clause in the license granted to the defendant by the plaintiff, to use the Daguerreotype apparatus. The facts and arguments are so fully stated in the judg ment, as to make it unnecessary to repeat them.

The Counsel for the plaintiff was Mr. FORTESCUE,-for the defendant, Mr. PEACOCK.

JUDGMENT.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE:—" This was an action of covenant against the defendant for not re-selling and transferring to the plaintiff or his principal all his interest under an indenture of license to exercise a patent. There is no express covenant to that effect in the indenture, but the plaintiff contends that there is an implied covenant, it being the manifest intention of the parties apparent upon the face of the indenture, that the defendant should, under the circumstances, re-sell and transfer.

By the indenture, the plaintiff as agent to two French gentlemen (and as trustee for whom he had obtained a patent,) in consideration of £200, granted to the defendant a license to use the patent for the remainder of the term. The indenture contains a covenant, that if the plaintiff should grant licenses to other persons on terms more advantageous than those granted to the defendant, he would pay the defendant such sum of money as would put him on an equality with those persons; and then the indenture proceeds: Provided, and it is hereby further agreed and declared, that if, at any time during the continuance of the Letters Patent, and the license hereby granted, any contract or agreement should be made or entered into, by or on behalf of the said Daguerre and Niepce, with the government of Great Britain, or with any person whatsoever, for the purchase of the rights and privileges granted by the Letters Patent, it shall be compulsory upon the said Daguerre and Niepce, their executors, administrators, and assigns, to re-purchase the interest hereby granted to the said Claudet, or such other persons as aforesaid, by paying to the said Claudet, or to such other persons as aforesaid, the consideration money paid by Claudet for the purchase of the license hereby granted, and giving him or her full power to dispose of and re-sell for his or their benefit, all the stock and apparatus, plates, designs, or tracings, he or she may then have on hand unsold.'

The declaration then states, that the rights and privileges granted, have been disposed of to a person named Beard; that the plaintiff and his principals have been ready to re-purchase by paying to the defendant the consideration money, and giving him full power to dispose of the stock on hand, .but that the defendant had refused to re-sell or transfer his interest upon the terms aforesaid.

* Lord Denman, Chief Justice Pattison, Williams, and Coleridge-Judges.

The case of Saltown v. Houston, in 1st Bingham; Sampson v. Easterly, in 9th Barnewall and Cresswell, and the same case in error in 6th Bingham, were cited, to show that the Court will collect from all the words of an instrument what is the intention of the parties, and that no particular words or expressions are necessary to constitute a covenant.

Other cases also were referred to, to illustrate the same doctrine, as to which no doubt whatever can be entertained.

Acting upon that doctrine, and looking to the whole of this indenture, we are satisfied the intention of the parties was to make the re-purchase of the defendant's license by the payment of the consideration money, compulsory upon the granter of the license, Daguerre and his colleague only; and that the proviso was intended for the benefit of the defendant, and was not meant to be compulsory on him; and that he may, if he please, relinquish it.

We are therefore of opinion that there was no covenant expressed or implied."

Judgment is therefore given for the defendant.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.

BEFORE SIR J. T. COLERIDGE, KT.

July 4, 5, & 6, 1842.

QUEEN v. JEREMIAH BYNNER.

Counsel for the Crown, the SOLICITOR-GENERAL, Messrs. FITZROY KELLY, HINDMARCH, & H. HILL.-For the defendant, the ATTORNEY-GENERAL, Messrs. M. HILL, CROMPTON, and WEBSTER.

This was a writ of scire facias to repeal a patent, granted to the defendant, for improvements in lamps, dated 9th December, 1837, (see Vol. XIV., p. 115, of our present Series.) The invention was called "the solar lamp," and consisted in forming a deflecting surface, in connection with a glass chimney, by which the air, in passing to supply the burner of the lamp, was caused to impinge upon the flame above the point of ignition.

The principal part of the evidence consisted in the production of a number of old lamps, said to possess the same properties, and scarcely if at all differing in the construction of the essential part, called the deflector.

Lamps on the principle of Simpson's Patent of 1812, and of Upton's Patent of 1827, were produced to the scientific witnesses, and their opinions taken thereon, as to identity in principle with that described in the defendant's specification. The deficiency and ambiguity of the specification and its drawings, were insisted upon, and ultimately five points were left for the consideration of the Jury, viz.-First: Whether a precise size of aperture in the deflector and height above the flame, was essential to produce the effect?-The Jury were of opinion that it was essential.

Second :-Whether the specification, aided by the drawings, sufficiently described such size and height ?—The Jury considered that the specification and drawings did not show it.

Third:-Whether the peculiar glass chimney described, as essential to produce the fullest effect, was beneficial; and whether the invention could be used with ordinary chimnies of glass?—The Jury found that the peculiar glass chimney, described, would not produce the fullest effect, and that the invention could not be used with ordinary chimnies of glass.

Fourth-Whether the invention was new at the time of granting the patent?-The Jury considered that it was not new at that time.

Fifth-Whether the patentee BYNNER was the true and first inventor ?— To which the Jury replied,-he was not.

The verdict therefore went for the Crown, and the Patent was repealed.

Scientific Notices.

REPORT OF TRANSACTIONS OF THE INSTITUTION

66

OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.

(Continued from page 459, Vol. XX.)

March 1, 1842.

The PRESIDENT in the Chair.

Description of the Permanent Way of the South-Eastern
Railway." By John Pope, Grad. Inst. C. E.

This communication commences with a general description of the slopes of the cuttings and the embankments of the line, and explains the mode of ballasting and the quality of the materials employed. On either side of the bank of ballast, and below the level of its bed, there is an open drain, 3 feet in width, extending throughout the line, which ensures perfect drainage from beneath the sleepers. The different works connected with the laying of the rails are then successively noticed. The sleepers are placed transversely, and differ in shape from any hitherto employed. They are of Baltic fir, and are formed by a square balk being diagonally divided so as to cut out four triangular

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sleepers, which are laid with the right angle C downwards, which

Triangular sleeper A, B, C, contrasted with a half balk. form (A, B, C,) has as much bearing surface as one of twice the cubic content cut out as a half balk in the usual manner. The advantages arising from this form in the economy of timber, the facility of packing, and the improved drainage of the ballast in contact with the sleepers, are pointed out, and the apparent dis

advantage of the tendency to act as a wedge, is combated by showing that the inclination of a right angle exceeds the limits within which the principle of the wedge obtains. The chairs are

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Elevation of Chair, showing the inclination of the Rail.

of a peculiar form designed by the engineer to combine lightness with strength; they are cast on a plan invented and patented by Messrs. Ransome and May, of Ipswich, whereby the inward inclination of the rails, instead of being made to depend merely upon the rail layers (as is usually the case), is effected entirely by the shape of the cavities of the chairs, which are all cast with peculiar accuracy. The uniformity of inclination attained by this improvement greatly diminishes the lateral motion of the carriages, observed on almost all other lines of railway. The chairs are placed horizontally on the sleepers, and are fastened down with trenails of oak compressed by the patent process of Messrs. Ransome and May. The wedges employed to secure the rails in the chairs are similarly compressed. Details are then given of the rails, which are parallel, with their upper and lower tables of equal breadth of the amount of compression of the wedges and trenails, their dimensions, shapes, &c.

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The author concludes by stating, upon the authority of Mr. Barlow, the resident engineer of that part of the line, that the passage of 70,000 tons of ballast over several miles of the "permanent way" already completed, has not rendered the slightest repair necessary, although the weather has been very unfavourable.

The paper is accompanied by a Drawing showing the construction of the permanent way, and it was illustrated by the exhibition of a pair of sleepers with two pieces of the rails placed in the chairs, which were fixed down with the compressed trenails, complete as on the railway; all the tools employed in laying the permanent line; and specimens of teak, oak, mahogany, hornbeam, walnut, and other timber, compressed and cut so as to show the subsequent form of the sap vessels.

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